Chrysler Says Goodbye to ‘Imported from Detroit’

Chrysler unveiled the new 200 at the Detroit auto show earlier this year.

Chrysler

With the launch of the new 200 sedan this summer, Chrysler is ditching the “Imported from Detroit” tagline made famous by its dark and gritty Super Bowl ad in 2011 – the one with rapper Eminem wheeling around Detroit – and introducing a new slogan it hopes will reflect the ambitions of its newest family car: “America’s Import.”

In its new TV ad for the 200, it makes clear just who it is trying to target among the competition: the Japanese imports that have long dominated the U.S. midsize-car market.

Case in point, the TV ad describes the 200 as “the car that proves a well-made sedan doesn’t have to cross an ocean to be worthy of the American road.” (Never mind that both GM and Ford now have strong family-sedan offerings, and the Japanese auto makers build most their cars in the U.S.)

Chrysler, more than any of the U.S. car makers, has really taken to embracing its American roots to sell cars. Now, with the new 200, it has to prove that all the built-in-the-U.S.A. bluster can translate into quality vehicles.

For years, Chrysler’s sedans – the Dodge Avenger and older Chrysler 200 – have stood as exhibit A to all that’s wrong with domestically designed and built passenger cars.

Both models bombed in reviews and were so undesired by customers that they became staples on rental car lots.

The new marketing campaign debuts Saturday, and like many other ads by Chrysler’s marketing chief Francois Olivier, tries to tug at the patriotic heart strings with dramatically-lit industrial scenes and Americans hard at work.

“Steel resolve” and “blood, sweat and gears” are among the phrases you’ll hear in the gravely-voiced monologue that runs throughout the TV commercial. There’s also a good showing of images from Detroit. The company was good enough to provide a transcript of the ad’s poetic voiceover:

What’s a Born Maker made from?From callused hands…strong backs…from the shoulders of giants.From small steps.And giant leaps.Big ideas.And sharp minds.From steel resolve.From blood, sweat…and gears.All the things that make a Born Maker…made this.A car with swagger.Intelligence.Soul.A car that proves a well-made sedan doesn’t have to cross an ocean to beworthy of American driveways.We are Born Makers.We made this.The All-New Chrysler 200.

Taking on the import brands in the brutally competitive family-sedan market won’t be easy but at least the tagline and ambitious verse sets the bar high.

Corrections & Amplifications: An earlier version of this article misspelled the company’s name in the headline.